- I think we can all agree that Hasbro's depiction of the GI Joe SEALs have been rather lacking. For the most part, they've all been portrayed in toy form as one-dimensional divers, armed with spear guns of all things (were they going spear-fishing?). When I first started this project, I had it in my head that I would update Torpedo and Wet-Suit and make them more "ground-based" in appearance. The problem with that approach, however, is that they start to lose their recognizability. My attempt at a compromise is to depict them wearing diving gear, but armed with contemporary surface weapons. This version of Wet-Suit is based on a conglomeration of his v1 (1986) and v3 (1992) designs. He has the "sea scooter" from the 1986 design, but I've armed him with an M79 grenade launcher (a proven "swimmable" weapon).
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INCREDIBLE Wet-Suit, man. As far as recognizability goes, I would think that doing a diving version in addition to a land version is the best way to go (although it IS more work). I would still like to see land based Torpedo and Wet-Suit images from you. Perhaps the land based image could still have a smaller image of them in their diving suits superimposed into the corner (dropping a version with character's face showing for the masked Joes in the same manner would be awesome as well).

I saw that you added Sabretooth and I thought it was a weird addition, given some of the other available choices you passed up on. After reading his filecard, it made a lot more sense. You don't get many chances to really go wild with your ideas, so this was a good opportunity (and it gives you a chance to add a sorely needed Filipino to the lineup). Nice work.

Okay, on a side note, I just picked up volume 4 of the Classic GI Joe TPB and was reading issue 33 (Mar 1985) when I noticed that 8 of the original Joes--Zap, Grunt, Short-Fuze, Stalker, Rock N Roll, Flash, Breaker and Scarlett--got promoted by Austin, and Hawk is given full command of the Pit and GI Joe, which I think implies his promotion to Brigadier General. Steeler, Clutch, Grand Slam and Snakes Eyes were excluded.

Assumed upgrades:
Since Steeler was an O1 in June 1982 when he was first introduced, he would have upgraded automatically to an O2 (after 18 months) by or before Dec 1983. And he would be on track to make Captain by or before June 1986 (after 4 years in service).

Wow blown away Zulu. Wet Suit is awesome. And Sabretooth is great. Looks great and a great addition. I was thinking about him when you did Wreckage who I believe was Hasbros alternative. As far as a Filipino Character. Great. How much of this is yourself? hmmm. Were you a medic? But Now I want to make a custom to look like that.

zuludelta, cool designs man, love em' I love modern army figures like this, not kinda far fetched stuff, like em' mate, done well, how did you put em' together ? using what on the comp ?

Glad you like them. I make them using Photoshop 7 (I can't afford to buy anything more recent :P)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tyroc

Zulu I love your composite images and they have all been really really cool but I think you've surpassed yourself with Wet Suit. That is just phenomenal! Thank you for sharing

Quote:

Originally Posted by Master Thespian

INCREDIBLE Wet-Suit, man.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tanksmasher

That Wet-suit is pretty awesome. Nice job, Zulu.

Thanks guys! I Can't take any real credit for Wet-Suit, though (compared to some of the other composite photos I've made), since the work I put in for this one was minimal (adding the weapon and weapon-holding hand, tweaking the colours and contrast, sharpening the iamge... no airbrushing at all, IIRC). Still, glad you guys like it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tanksmasher

Okay, on a side note, I just picked up volume 4 of the Classic GI Joe TPB and was reading issue 33 (Mar 1985) when I noticed that 8 of the original Joes--Zap, Grunt, Short-Fuze, Stalker, Rock N Roll, Flash, Breaker and Scarlett--got promoted by Austin, and Hawk is given full command of the Pit and GI Joe, which I think implies his promotion to Brigadier General.

Vol. 4 was neat. I got a real laugh out of one of the later issues in the volume... Ace mentions that the Skystriker has an onboard computer with a whopping 92 kilobytes of memory! That really took me back. I remember when 64K of memory was plenty.

Oh, and Hawk didn't get "implicitly" promoted to brigadier general in issue #33. He actually gets promoted to O-7 later in the series (can't remember the exact issue... it's after Cobra Commander launches an attack on the new Pit in the 50-something issues). I remember his promotion sticking out to me because he gets promoted by Gen. Hollingsworth in a hospital room (stood out for the reason that only the president can award promotions from colonel to brigadier general)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Master Thespian

I saw that you added Sabretooth and I thought it was a weird addition, given some of the other available choices you passed up on. After reading his filecard, it made a lot more sense. You don't get many chances to really go wild with your ideas, so this was a good opportunity (and it gives you a chance to add a sorely needed Filipino to the lineup). Nice work.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Loose Cannon

And Sabretooth is great. Looks great and a great addition. I was thinking about him when you did Wreckage who I believe was Hasbros alternative. As far as a Filipino Character. Great. How much of this is yourself? hmmm. Were you a medic? But Now I want to make a custom to look like that.

Sabretooth is probably the closest I'll get to making an idealized version of myself on the Joe team (the infantry thing is based on my own training as a reservist in the Philippine Army, the education is meant to mirror my own formal post-secondary education). A little vanity-project-within-a-vanity-project that I couldn't resist. I also used updated info based on my grandfather's military service as a rifleman/cannoneer with the USAFFE and I adapted a bunch of other details from Filipino-American relatives and friends currently serving with the US Armed Forces. The real name that I used for Sabretooth is actually based on a combination of my 2 year old cousin's name (he lives in Guam, on the US Naval Base) and my grandfather's "Chinese name" (although he's nominatively Filipino-American, his side of the family traces its roots to Fujian province in mainland China).

Oh, and Hawk didn't get "implicitly" promoted to brigadier general in issue #33. He actually gets promoted to O-7 later in the series (can't remember the exact issue... it's after Cobra Commander launches an attack on the new Pit in the 50-something issues). I remember his promotion sticking out to me because he gets promoted by Gen. Hollingsworth in a hospital room (stood out for the reason that only the president can award promotions from colonel to brigadier general)

Yeah, you're right to say that he didn't get promoted until later. I just checked yojoe.com's archive and saw the following summary describing issue 45 (Mar 1986):

"In the US Army Medical Center in Washington DC, General Austin is briefing Colonel Hawk on the information about Cobra Island. He gets the President of the US, as well as the Joint Chiefs chairman to confirm that Colonel Hawk is promoted to Brigadier General and commander in chief of the GI Joe team. General Austin is retiring. Hawk receives his stars."

__________________

"We make a stand now or there will be nobody left to go to the choppa!" --Major Alan "Dutch" Schaefer

Yeah, you're right to say that he didn't get promoted until later. I just checked yojoe.com's archive and saw the following summary describing issue 45 (Mar 1986):

"In the US Army Medical Center in Washington DC, General Austin is briefing Colonel Hawk on the information about Cobra Island. He gets the President of the US, as well as the Joint Chiefs chairman to confirm that Colonel Hawk is promoted to Brigadier General and commander in chief of the GI Joe team. General Austin is retiring. Hawk receives his stars."

Ah, so it happened in issue 45. I must've mixed up Austin with Hollingsworth as well (for some reason, I had this odd notion that Austin had died by then and Hollingsworth had taken over the stewardship of the team).